MGM re-iterates their selection for director on ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ They originally announced Norman Taurog on 7/16 and they chose to confirm it again on this date. A lot needed to be done in preparation before the planned start in three weeks. The title role had yet to be decided upon – the latest possibility was rumored to be Fritz Feld. [Taurog had just finished ‘Boys Town,’ for which he would receive an Oscar nomination. He did shoot some test scenes for ‘Oz,’ before he was taken off on September 6, so that he could prepare for ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.’ (Taurog had done a magnificent job on the Tom Sawyer film for Selznick). Richard Thorpe was named as his replacement on Oz, (and later took over Huck Finn, too). More directorial changes lay ahead for Oz].
Former casting director for MGM, Clifford Robertson, has been held over for trial on three counts of grand theft. Two doctors and a dentist were bilked of amounts due them for work performed for Robertson and his wife in 1936. Robertson had claimed that a settlement of $100,000 was imminent from the studio. As a boost for his story he also claimed that he had been the discoverer of Rudolph Valentino. [Englishman Robertson started out on the stage. By 1909 he was in Hollywood. Goldwyn hired him as casting director in 1917. In Sept 1921 he resigned from Goldwyn to start his own firm for casting Robertson & Webb. By 1925, he was on his own, self incorporated at 6683 Sunset Blvd. L B Mayer picked him up as casting director for MGM in March 1926. In May 1929, he switched to head of casting at Columbia. While still at Columbia, he put together a quarterly casting directory, and was soon back on his own. In March of 1933 – the studios got together and put thumbs down on his news service “Coast.” By April 1933 his publication Cast Quarterly was forced into involuntary bankruptcy by his creditors. This was at least the third bankruptcy in his career, so he had fallen on hard times, hence his turning to scams. It would not be the last one].
After working on the 75 costumes for ’The Mad Miss Manton,’ designer Edward Stevenson has had his contract renewed at RKO. (Eleven of the frocks were for Barbara Stanwyck). His next assignment is ‘Annabel Takes a Tour,’ and costumes for Lucille Ball. [Other stars he costumed – Irene Dunne, Lily Pons, Frances Farmer, and Katharine Hepburn. Once he complained that with the arrival of color films, the producers, enamoured of the process, wanted nothing but color in the clothes, and as a result had no regard for what the part required for the film. In his philosophy the woman is first and the clothes must bend to glorify her. Explaining what happens to the clothes later – they were put in the wardrobe department, and then were worn, in descending order – by second leads, then bit players and lastly extras].
WB contract star Fay Bainter is being sought by MGM for one of their properties – either ‘Shining Hour’ or ‘Dramatic School.’ Her contract will allow it, so it may come to pass, especially since WB has nothing for her until ‘Forgive Us Our Trespasses’ is ready to go. Like her last film ‘White Banners’, it is by Lloyd C Douglas. Fay was on contract a whole year before Banners was ready. [Bainter did go to MGM and appeared in ‘The Shining Hour.’ When she came back to WB, they had ‘Yes, My Darling Daughter’ waiting for her. The Lloyd C Douglas project ‘Forgive Us Our Trespasses’ never got made].
A personal injury damage suit was lodged against film actress Rosalind Russell. The claimant alleges her wire-haired terrier bit him on the arm. This is the second time that her dog has been the subject of an injury suit. [There is something curious about this – Russell was then in England making ‘The Citadel’ for MGM and had been since June. There is no mention that the suits were filed in England, so they may have been in absentia].
OUTSIDE HOLLYWOOD
In Greenwich CT, Mary Philips Bogart married Leo Mielziner, an editor who works for MGM in New York. Mielziner goes by the stage name of Kenneth MacKenna. The bride was recently divorced from Humphrey Bogart, and the groom is the former husband of actress Kay Francis.
In England, screen actress Sylvia Sidney and stage actor Luther Adler have filed at the London Registry for the intent to marry. Adler is playing the lead in Clifford Odets’ Golden Boy at a London theater. Sylvia recently completed a film opposite George Raft in ‘You and Me.’ She was formally married to book publisher Bennett Cerf.
